Interrater reliability of the needle examination in lumbosacral radiculopathy

Low back pain and lumbar radiculopathy are among the most common painful disorders affecting the adult population. This study hypothesizes that there is good correlation between the diagnostic impression of an unblinded electromyographer, using clinical and electromyographic information, and an independent electromyographer, who uses the needle examination only to assess for lumbar radiculopathy. This is a prospective, single-blinded, observational pilot study. The needle examination was electronically recorded, reproduced, and shown to a second examiner, blinded to all clinical data. Diagnostic impressions from both examiners were recorded and evaluated for agreement. Six recorded cases were reviewed by 66 blinded examiners. Overall diagnostic agreement was 46.9% (60.5% faculty level, 28.5% resident level). Logistic regression shows a strong association between training level and agreement on diagnostic impression (odds ratio, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.12–3.22; P = 0.019). This study shows that there is fair interrater reliability between faculty-level examiners and poor reliability among resident-level examiners when the needle examination is used to evaluate patients with lumbar radiculopathy. Muscle Nerve, 2006Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55783/1/20554_ftp.pd

3,7-Dihydr­oxy-3,7-diphenyl-2H,6H-pyrrolo[3,4-f]isoindole-1,5(3H,7H)-dione methanol disolvate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C22H16N2O4·2CH4O, contains one half-mol­ecule and a methanol solvent mol­ecule. The aromatic ring is oriented at a dihedral angle of 82.91 (3)° with respect to the planar indole ring systems. In the crystal structure, inter­molecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into chains along the b axis

2,5-Dibenzoyl­benzene-1,4-diaminium dichloride

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C20H18N2O2 2+·2Cl−, is composed of one-half of the 2,5-dibenzoyl­benzene-1,4-diaminium dication, located on a centre of inversion, and one Cl− ion. The dihedral angle between the central benzene ring and the benzoyl phenyl ring is 53.3 (2)°. In the crystal structure, ions are linked to form a two-dimensional network parallel to the (10) plane by N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds

Letters to the editor

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50165/1/880191103_ftp.pd